“No,” I shouted, pulling my threads of gray to the surface even more, in a vain attempt to get the shadows to leave me alone. When it didn’t dissuade them, I began using the soul knife in my hand to hack at the ones that came close enough, and then the ones on Gavriel, while singing the lyrics from a Justin Bieber song I’d used to torment a particularly nasty foster father with. It worked like a charm. “Is there anywhere safe we can go?” I called over the roaring that was coming from underneath Rumple’s enormous body.
“The nursery,” Gavriel yelled.
I came as close to sayingwhat the fuckas I had in decades.
He pointed to a closed door. “There. We can hide in there for…” His voice trailed off, and I realized Rumple had gone still under him.
“Oh, I donotthink so,” I yelled at the universe. “Not today, shadows. Not to-fudging-day.” I took a deep breath, let the grayswirls in my skin sink down, and pulled every bit of Celestial light I had to the surface, singing my name at the same time.
There was power in a name. I’d known that for a long time. I just hadn’t understood how much power my name—as long and complicated and terrible as it was—would have against the shadow creatures. Prisms of light flew everywhere, like I was a person-sized disco ball of crystal energy.
“Perfect,” Gavriel panted, and pulled at Rumple.
“Let me help.” I was exhausted, but I would find the strength to free him.
“No… you get… the door,” he grunted.
I ran to the door he’d pointed at, trying the handle. “It’s locked. Is there a word?”
“Precious,” he said. “Her name.”
I blinked, but had no time to hesitate. Gavriel was half-carrying, half-dragging Rumple’s enormous, unrecognizable body toward me as fast as he could move, but a massive mouth, filled with jagged, blood-soaked shadow teeth, was starting to push through the wall behind them.
I sang out Precious’s name, infusing it with all the Celestial power I had, even though it made dark spots dance before my eyes. I could handle dizziness, but something more worrying assaulted me at the same time: a sharp, stabbing pain in both my nape and my breast.
Mikhail and Righteous were suffering.
The door swung open when I finished the last note, and Gavriel and Rumple fell through the opening. I slammed it shut behind us, panting in the sudden silence as I took in our surroundings.
The ceilings were low, and white gauzy fabric hung in billows and waves all over the ceiling, with tiny sparkles of light—or perhaps glitter—caught in the cloth. But that was almost the only white in the room. Unlike the rest of Sanctuary, whichhad always seemed boring and sterile to me, this room was an explosion of color. The walls were lavender and purple, rich shades that I recognized immediately. They were taken from Precious’s hair, and the silver stars scattered across all four walls brought her galaxy eyes to mind.
There were two small sofas with plush, multi-colored cushions, and a table with rounded edges nearby. A box sat on top of the table, and a bed—at least as big as the one I’d had in my own room in this realm—occupied the corner beyond it.
In the other corner was something completely unexpected. I swallowed hard, walking toward it. The shining, golden crib was the perfect size for a baby, filled with jewel-toned pillows and blankets that any tot would love flinging over the spindled bars.
Above the crib, though, was what had caught my eye. What had my mind flailing, trying to understand what and when, and how, and why… I reached out with one hand and tapped the mobile lightly, sending it into motion.
The six small, golden feathers threw light all around the room, and as I watched, the pools of light became children’s stories: cats and fiddles, a boy climbing a beanstalk, a bird dropping stones in a jar, a lion curled up with a mouse, and so many more. They were beautiful, but the power emanating from all six feathers, casting a circle of complete protection over the crib, was also familiar.
“Gav? Are these feathers…” I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from reacting when he extended one wing, and I saw a missing patch, the skin raw and golden-pink where they had been. The pain had to have been incredible. And Precious had never seen it.
None of us had known about it, until now. My mind spun like I was on a merry-go-round, about to fly off into a new reality, where Gavriel was a completely different man. My heart ached.
I had thought, before I left Sanctuary, that he didn’t care for her. For crying out loud, all of us had assumed he was going tokillher at the Guides’ urging. Sunny had stepped in and vowed on her wings to “take care” of Precious, in order to protect the baby from Gavriel. When all along, he’d been making this space for her. Sacrificing himself so she would have a room of her own.
A room that practically shouted his love for her.
He had been cruel to me, I knew that. But maybe I had been too quick to judge him as well. To see him as the one at fault.
“I wish she could have played here, even once,” he rasped. “I think she would have loved it.”
“She would have,” I told him, forcing myself not to cry. I turned to face him, flinching at the pain in his gaze. But this was no time for emotions; these two were on the cusp of death. I reached down to grab the cords of Sanctuary’s fire, hoping Gavriel could show me how to use it to heal his and Rumple’s wounds. But the realm was… absent? No, muffled. I couldn’t reach it. It was almost as if… “Is this like a pocket realm or something?” I wondered aloud.
“Yes,” Gavriel said. “Nothing can reach us here. We’re safe for… for as long as we need.”
Safe, but cut off.
“Gavriel, I need to heal you, but I can’t reach Sanctuary. We don’t have food or water, or…” By the time I’d stopped speaking, he’d laid Rumple down on one of the sofas and crossed to the table, pulling the box toward him. He reached inside and withdrew a handful of grapes, then what looked like amber glass cups of liquid, and finally a loaf of bread and two dozen cheese cubes.
